


The Best You Can't Be

by cellabrations



Category: Bandom, My Chemical Romance
Genre: Frerard, M/M, mute frank
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-01
Updated: 2015-03-02
Packaged: 2018-02-27 19:12:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,847
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2703314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cellabrations/pseuds/cellabrations
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Frank Iero's aunt decides she doesn't have the time and patience to take care of the mute boy anymore. Frank is quickly moved from Vermont to New Jersey to live with a family friend, Donna, who has two strange boys that take an immediate interest in the younger. No doubt, there is something odd about the entire town and Frank is not sure he's very keen to find out what it is.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Been working on this story for a long time and I decided, why not post it? So here it is! It will be boyxboy so if you don't like that then X this page out. Any mistakes, just let me know, yo!

When Frank was only two years old, his father left him and his mother. Considering his age, it didn't hit him as hard as it could have. His father was always working, anyway, and never had much time for his boy.

Frank's mother, however, took a turn for the worst. She drank very frequently and Frank learned early to stay in his room whenever she took out the drink or he would have to deal with her sadness and anger, which she would take out on him if he was ever in the way.

And this was Frank's life for the most part: watch his mother self destruct while he did his best to take care of himself without assistance. It worked, for the most part. He did alright throughout his elementary school days, receiving OK grades and participating in most things. None of the teachers ever suspected anything if he ever came to school with a black and blue splotch on his arm; "Tripped getting off the bus," he would tell them, and they'd turn their heads the other way.

He also knew best not to make any close friends. Their parents would want to meet his parents and they'd see what a wreck his life was and thus, no more friends for Frank. So, he hung around a few boys at school, but never interacted with them outside of that.

Everything was fine for a little while, but things took a disastrous turn the summer before Frank was supposed to begin middle school. He was only eleven years old at the time.

Frank was at the lake enjoying the breeze and scenery while practicing guitar, a talent he picked up when the school started offering music classes after school. Once it had started to get late, he packed up his things and walked home. The moment he walked through the door, he knew something wasn't right. The entire house was cleaned, all of the lights were off, and it was eerily silent.

When he had found his mother, there was blood everywhere along with a handgun lying in her limp hand. All Frank remembers from that day was screaming, crying, and blubbering nonsense into the telephone at the operator about what he had found. Soon, he was carried away and sent off to live with some aunt he didn't know he had.

Since the incident, Frank slowly started to get quieter and quieter until he decided that his voice wasn't needed in the world. He was always known as the weird-mute-introvert-kid, but he didn't mind. That's what he was, right?

After a while, his aunt got too caught up in work that she couldn't be around enough to take care of Frank, so she decided to send him to a family friend (who, she had 'forgotten' to add to Frank until they had actually left, lived in an entirely different state) for a little while until she could get herself situated.

Frank's aunt never understood his muteness. It bothered her for days on end as to why he couldn't just say one thing. Frank never fully understood it either, but his aunt was just too bothered by it. Nonetheless, he thinks that there is no 'getting caught up in work' nonsense; she's just bothered by having a quiet kid.

 _Whatever_ , Frank thought. _Maybe this new family will be better. It'll be like a new chapter in my life._


	2. Chapter 1

Gasping loudly, Frank quickly awoke from yet another nightmare. After taking in his surroundings, he remembered bitterly where he was and had been for the last few hours: sitting in a car driving from Vermont to New Jersey. His aunt had gotten tired of trying to take care of the mute boy that she decided to move him to one of her friend’s house for a while. _Blood is thicker than water?_ Frank thought bitterly. _Yeah. Right._

He sighed and while rubbing a hand over his pale face, he shoved the nightmare into the back of his mind where all of the previous ones were stored for him to remember the next time he shut his eyes.

The music from his headphones was playing softly and it was the only thing that could calm him down after the reverie. But before he could listen to any more songs, there was a hand waving in front of his face. No doubt, it belonged to his aunt. Sighing once more, he shoved the headphones off of his head to around his neck, not bothering to look at the face of the woman next to him.

“We’re going to be there in twenty minutes,” she said, turning her body to look at Frank.

Frank flicked his sharp, hazel eyes at her. He could almost swear that he had gotten more scornful-looking since he had fallen asleep. He wouldn’t doubt that she had probably stopped at numerous gas stations just to have a go at the cashier. He always wondered whether she always meant to be rude or it just came out accidentally. Did she ever feel bad about yelling at that sixteen year old boy who was delivering pizza? Did she feel remorse for when she practically made a seventy-something bagger at Wal-Mart go to tears after telling her off for bagging her groceries incorrectly?

 _No_ , Frank thought, _she probably didn’t give a fuck. She probably also didn’t give a fuck about_ moving me to fucking New Jersey _._

“Hey!” She snapped her fingers in front of his face when it had become obvious that he had not been listening to her for the past fifteen seconds. “Did you even hear a word I was saying?”

Frank blinked at her and creased his eyebrows. Had she been talking?

“ ’Course you didn’t,” she huffed out. Frank stared at her chubby fingers as they gripped the steering wheel tighter. “You know what would be a great impression on my friends? You could talk. You could say something,” she said acrimoniously with an edge of sarcasm.

Frank averted his gaze from her stringy hair to her scornful face. He scoffed quietly at how ill-mannered she was. At least he kept his thoughts to himself; even the thought he was having at the moment about how much of a bitch she was.

He turned away from her and proceeded to stare out of the window at the hills they were passing, not bothering to put his headphones back on, as his aunt would make a sneering comment about it. They sat in silence for the rest of the ride.

Finally, the aged black Saturn pulled into the driveway of an immense, off-white house. Frank sighed for the eightieth time that day.

“The woman who lives here is named Donna,” his aunt said. “She has two kids so I expect you to try and communicate with them.” She paused. “Your stuff is in the trunk.” With that, she hauled herself out of the car and made her way to the front door, not bothering to wait for Frank.

Glaring at the back of her head, he pulled himself out of the car and quickly fumbled his small bag from the trunk. He put Vermont in the back of his mind as he trudged through snow of the un-shoveled sidewalk to the door behind his aunt.

The door opened before he could even arrive next to his aunt, revealing a short woman who looked like she should belong to the 70s. She had bell bottom jeans pulled up beyond her waist and a pale, flowy long-sleeved shirt. Her blonde hair was curled and poofed up, only slightly falling into her hazel eyes.

She immediately smiled from ear to ear and, pointedly ignoring his aunt, said, “So, you must be Frank!” An unexpected hug followed that comment, catching Frank off guard. Once she finally let go, she continued, “My name is Donna. My two boys should be coming downstairs.”

Not one moment later, a tall, lanky boy with chestnut-colored hair half-covered by a black beanie entered the premises. His lightly colored hair looked as if it was uncomfortably sitting in front of his eyes along with his glasses, but the boy didn’t seem to mind. He was wearing a band t-shirt that Frank didn’t recognize, but then again, Frank didn’t listen to anything beyond punk or rock. It was apparent that the boy had just woken up, considering he was still wearing light blue pajama pants.

The matter was taken to hand immediately once Donna laid eyes on him. “You didn’t have the decency to change your clothes?”

“I just woke up!” he defended himself. He dropped the matter quickly once he laid eyes on Frank. “Hi! I’m Mikey.”

Frank gave a head nod in his direction considering the boy didn’t seem as if he was going to shake his hand or take after his mother with the whole hugging scene. Not that Frank was complaining, of course. He would have gladly not have accepted the hug from Donna if he had had the option (or any physical human interaction, for that matter).

“Oh, that’s right. You don’t talk,” Mikey murmured; almost to himself, but both Frank and Donna heard.

“Michael James Way!” Donna scolded. “Don’t be rude!”

Frank would have simply shrugged the matter off, but Donna apparently liked to keep a polite reputation in the house. Besides, Frank had had worse comments about the issue; most of them coming from his aunt.

He met Mikey’s eyes and tried to give him a facial expression that said, ‘You don’t have to be sorry. It’s alright,’ but he was never quite sure if the message got to him correctly.

The silence only proceeded for a moment before Donna turned her body completely to Mikey. “Is Sleeping Beauty coming downstairs soon?”

“Sleeping Beauty needed his time,” a disembodied voice said mockingly from the stairs moments before it revealed that it belonged to a regular boy.

As cliché as it was, Frank couldn’t help but take in a slight gasp at the sight. The boy was definitely one of the most attractive people he had ever seen.

His black hair was lustrous, but Frank was sure that may have only been because the boy hadn’t washed it. It crazily splayed in all different directions, some strands almost covering his tired-looking hazel eyes. The dark, baggy sweatshirt he was wearing caught Frank’s eyes, as he actually recognized the logo of one of his favorite bands plastered to the front of it. This boy had also not bothered to change his pajama pants, which were just in all reality just gray, wrinkled sweatpants.

“Oh, good,” Mikey said sarcastically, “the narcissist finally made it!”

The new boy forced out a laugh. “I’m a narcissist? Why don’t you check for the last time you could go five minutes without checking yourself out in a mirror?”

Frank barely even listened to what he was saying. He was too busy hearing the perfect voice that was coming from his mouth. Regardless of the how slightly nasally it was, the boy’s modulated voice alone practically made Frank swoon at him.

His thoughts didn’t continue for much longer before Donna interrupted.

“Boys!” she disciplined once again. “Could you not do this right now?”

Mikey and the nameless-attractive-boy both sniggered at each other before saying quick and meaningless apologies to her.

“Anyway, guys,” Donna said after taking letting out a huge, unnecessary sigh, “this is Frank Iero and he is your new brother!”

Frank practically cringed at the word ‘brother’. He didn’t know either of these boys; no way was he going to be referring to them as his brothers in any meaning.

He earned a mumble from each of them containing something like: “Hi Frank.” It almost made him feel as though he was the new kid in school again.

Which reminded him: he was going to be the new kid in school again. Great.

He shoved the thoughts away and tried to tune in to what Donna was saying.

“Mikey, Gerard.” Gerard. That’s his name. “Why don’t you two show Frank around the house while I catch up with my old friend?” Gerard’s face remained stolid as he shrugged out a “sure” while Mikey gave a smirk and mimicked the action.

Donna and Frank’s aunt were out the door before any of them could bat an eye. There was a full five seconds that passed in which the three boys in the foyer each gave off a different vibe.

Gerard’s intimidating eyes mixed with his emotionless expression gave Frank the impression that if he shifted one inch in the wrong direction, Gerard would be able to notice it in an instant. Because of that, Frank didn’t dare move his position; not wanting to be judged by the gorgeous boy.

Mikey still gave off the same notion as he had when Frank first laid eyes on him. The mischievous glint in his hazel eyes was still there as well as the smirk that gave Frank an uneasy feeling.

Frank wasn’t sure what kind of vibe he himself was giving off, but he was sure that the pair opposite him could hear his heart beating so quickly that he was surprised it hadn’t exploded already. He was positive that his face was bright red and radiating heat rapidly.

It was the smirking boy who finally cracked the silence.

 “Yeah, well, as much fun as walking you around a house that I’ve lived in for fourteen years sounds,” Mikey said while grabbing a jacket that was hanging next to him, “I’ve got to go work on a school project with Pete.” He slid past Frank while patting him on the shoulder. “We’ll chill when I get back or something.”

Before either of the boys could interfere, Mikey was out the door. Frank seemed to be the only one wondering why he would go to a friend’s house while still in his pajamas, but Gerard didn’t make a comment about it, so he figured it was just a normal thing.

“You shouldn’t hold him to that,” Gerard mumbled lowly. He shoved himself off of the wall he was leaning against and then said a bit louder, “Well I’ve got no friends to run off to like Mister I-Must-Be-Dramatic, so it looks like it’s just going to be you and me for a while.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ayy so chapter one is here cool cool. let me know what you think! any constructive criticism is gladly accepted as well yoo


	3. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has Gerard and Frank smoking pot in it so if you don't like reading about that stuff, then you don't have to read this chapter. Basically this is just a filler chapter until the next one, where it's Frank's first day of school ooo exciting. Anyway, like I said, this is just a filler and if you don't like reading about drug use, then you can skip this chapter.  
> Any future chapters that have any triggering stuff in it, I'll always make a note of it before posting so you guys know beforehand in case you don't wanna read it.  
> Anyway that's all I gotta say. Thanks for reading my story, yo. Enjoy the chapter (to those reading it)!

The two boys who occupied the vacant house ended up sitting in the room that was only just given to the boy with the piercings. The black-haired boy had told Frank that he was just going to skip the aforesaid ‘tour’ for now. He hadn’t made any excuse, so Frank just presumed that he didn’t feel like doing it. Not that he was blaming him, no, for if he was in the same situation that he was in, he would have made the same choice.

Frank was sat on the bottom bunk of the bed that presided over the corner of the room while Gerard was nonchalantly looking through the drawers that Frank’s clothes would soon reline.

Frank barely paid any attention to what he was doing, but rather, casually went over his features. The boy’s black hair would sometimes look like a dark indigo if the sunlight coming through the window would hit it at the right angle. Gerard had the sleeves of his dark colored hoodie shoved up to his elbows to show his what-Frank-thought-were-going-to-be-muscular-but-ended-up-being-not-so-muscular arms. Suddenly, Frank found himself wondering would he would look like wearing a short-sleeved t-shirt…

“House warming gift,” the perfect voice interrupted his thoughts. This is the moment that he had realized that Gerard had stopped rummaging through the drawers. Next thing he knew, there was a small bag that was tossed atop of his lap. Upon closer inspection, he noticed what appeared to be dried parsley.  He knew that the innocent-looking crystal-ly green herbs sealed inside were not that of the same category as parsley.

Frank smirked; almost to himself. He hadn’t had the chronic since a few years earlier, when a peculiar girl who lived next door, Jamia, who was quite obviously on more than weed, caught Frank on his walk home from school asked him to hang out one day. He obliged, only because he may have had a pining for odd people. She handed him something that looked like a cigarette without a filter.

‘Just inhale it like it is a cigarette,’ she had told him.

He did, and they had become friends quickly. She let him mooch off of her pot and cigarettes and they’d watch stupid horror movies together. Frank never asked more about her and she never told. Jamia never asked more about him and he never told.

There may have been a few kisses here and a stray hand there, but they didn’t put labels on anything.

A few months after they’d been become close, her family abruptly moved. Frank moped about for a while before moving on and living his life just like he always had. Jamia had been one of the last people to hear Frank Iero’s voice.

Gerard cut through his thoughts again (or in this case, his quick flashback). “Technically it’s Mikey’s, but he’s not good at hiding his pot. In this house, you find it, it’s yours,” he told Frank, but to Frank’s dismay, he didn’t look up at him so he couldn’t see his brilliant silverish orbs. He was too busy rolling up the herb before opening the window next to him.

Finally, he looked up at Frank and gave a small smile that almost melted him instantly. “C‘mere,” Gerard said and patted the window sill. Frank imperturbably slinked to the window sill that was big enough for both him and Gerard to sit across. Gerard passed him a joint and pulled out his zippo. He repeated his abovementioned command and Frank leaned in a bit as Gerard lit both of the papers.

Frank took a long drag, feeling as though the herb was going straight to his brain, as he felt immediately calm. He had almost forgotten the feeling of doing this. He opened his mouth and watched the black smoke get caught in the wind that was rushing by the window. He looked up at the ominous clouds that were moving in and would no longer be giving off snow. It would probably storm later.

He averted his gaze to the beautiful boy. Gerard had his head leaning against the wall of the sill and was turning green into black with each short hit he took.

“Best to keep this between us,” Gerard said, puffing out some smoke. “Mikey’ll freak out if he finds out that we’re smoking his shit.”

Frank smiled a little. _Yeah,_ he thought, _I’m definitely gonna like it here._

 

*

 

Gerard had finally finished bringing every extra blanket and pillow that he could find laying around to Frank’s room. It was ten at night and neither Donna nor Mikey were home yet. Throughout the time that they were gone, the two boys who occupied the house smoked, ate all of the snacks in the house, and watched lame TV shows for the time being. Eventually, though, they did have to become tired.

“Mom’s not gonna be home ‘til morning,” the black-haired-boy murmured, almost to the darkness of the room. The lighter-haired-boy was wondering why he didn’t turn on any of the lights. “She probably went to see Dad. Mikey’ll be home around midnight.” Gerard paused and Frank could see his silhouette look toward the window that they spent at least two hours sitting in. “It’s gonna storm tonight so you should probably keep the window closed.” Without one more word, Gerard simply left the room leaving a boy enclosed in the darkness.

Frank never actually thought about it throughout that day, but he shoved a lot of things in a pile in the back of his mind. And when he finally managed to let sleep take over, those things weren’t very gentle on his mind. Every single thought that he wanted to forget about overcame his thoughts once again, just like they had every night for as long as he could remember.

Little did Frank know, however, that this would be the last time he would have a nightmare for a while.

Gerard and Mikey Way were in his life now, and things were about to get a hell of a lot different than his life had ever been, whether Frank knew it or not.


	4. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry i take forever to update this story whooops. once spring break rolls around i can work on more chapters! I hope you enjoy this one for now B) (i apologize for any errors! i only haphazardly looked over it a few times whoops)

The next morning when Frank woke up, he was startled for only a moment, as a thought of _WHERE THE HELL AM I?_ crossed his mind. He quickly remembered the events of the past day and his thoughts calmed down for only a moment before another thought of _Shit. Today is the first day at a new school._ came across.

Checking the time, he saw that it was only two minutes before his actual alarm was supposed to go off, so he lay in bed taking deep breaths for a moment until the annoying tone sounded loudly from his phone. Shutting it off, he hauled himself out of bed and hesitantly went to go downstairs.

He was only approaching the top of the stairs when a hand clasped his shoulder. He jumped and turned around, only to be met with the smirking boy he had only met for a few moments yesterday.

“Morning,” Mikey said. “Pancakes are in the kitchen. Better get to them before Mom and Gerard do, ‘else they’ll all be gone.”

Frank nodded slowly and proceeded to follow Mikey into the small kitchen.

“Nervous about your first day?” Mikey asked once they finally sat down at the table.

Frank nodded again, poking his fork at the pancakes.

“Don’t be,” Mikey laughed. “As long as you stick with Gerard and me and you’ll be fine.”

Before Frank could ponder about what he had meant, the boy with black, disheveled hair bounded into the kitchen and took a seat next to Frank.

“Good morning!” Gerard sing-songed to the two boys. “Excited about your first day at school, Frank?” he asked before shoving the pancakes into his mouth.

Frank didn’t miss the way Mikey’s eyebrow raised at his brother once the words were out of his mouth. Gerard, apparently, didn’t miss it either, and he shot back an innocent look.

Shrugging, Frank finally pushed his plate away, deciding that he wasn’t hungry after only about three bites. The anxiety about going to a new high school in the middle of the year just didn’t settle well in his stomach, and pancakes probably wouldn’t help the matter at all.

“You’ll be OK,” Gerard said and patted his shoulder and continued eating in silence.

And _fuck_ if Frank believed that today was going to go OK.

*

When the trio walked into school, Frank anticipated that there would be a few glances in their direction, wondering who the new kid was. What Frank didn’t anticipate, however, was that the entirety of the students in view would have their eyes on him the moment he walked in.

 _What the fuck is up?_ Frank thought wearily.

“Just ignore them,” Gerard told him after Frank tried to cower behind him.

Ignoring about fifty pairs of eyes on him wasn’t as easy as Gerard, apparently, thought it was.

Mikey and Gerard hauled him into what looked to be the main office. Frank didn’t fail to notice _every goddamn student’s_ eyes darting between him and the Way brothers on the way, making Frank’s blood run cold because _fuck_ if this was normal _at all_.

“Hello, Miss Row,” Gerard said once they got into the office, smiling sweetly to the woman sitting behind the desk, and proceeded to gesture toward Frank. “We’re here to pick up Frank Iero’s schedule.”

The woman—Miss Row—gave Frank a smile and handed him a piece of paper. “Of course. Welcome to Belleville, Mr. Iero.”

Frank forced a smile but before he could take the paper, Gerard had already taken it from her hand, scanning over his classes.

“We’ve made sure to have Frank in either yours or Mikey’s classes to make things easier for him,” Miss Row said to Gerard. Frank narrowed his eyes at her for a moment because _Christ_ , he’s not an _idiot_ , and he’s sure he can navigate his way around a damn high school.

Apparently no one picked up on his spite and he was quickly equipped with a few required books and some papers he was told to fill out for tomorrow (which Frank was sure he would forget to do).

“Good luck!” Miss Row had chimed as they walked out the door after the first bell rang.

 _Yeah,_ Frank thought, _I’m gonna need it._

*

The first four classes Frank had had gone by quickly enough, but the looks he was getting from other students was really, _really_ starting to freak him out. He knew Mikey and Gerard had also noticed, but neither of them really addressed it much, which made the matter even weirder.

 _Maybe they don’t get many new students_ , Frank thought at one point when he entered his fourth hour class to be met with stares and whispers for the millionth time that morning. _Yeah. That must be it._

After fourth hour was finally over, Mikey and him walked down to the commons where lunch was taking place. They sat down by where Gerard and four other boys were already sitting and arguing about some comic. Mikey sat next to the short boy who was sat next to a boy with wickedly curly hair that Frank couldn’t take his eyes off of for a moment. Gerard pulled Frank to sit between him and a burly-looking guy with an intimidating look that Frank made sure he didn’t catch. On the other side of that guy was another short kid with glasses who was poking at a mushy substance on his tray.

“Hey!” the guy with the poofy hair beamed. “So you’re Frank?” Frank nodded. “I’m Ray.”

Gerard then cut in with his own introductions. First, pointing at the small boy that Mikey now had an arm slung over, Gerard said, “That’s Pete.” Then, pointing at the burly guy, “That’s Bob.” Then, the small kid next to him, “And that’s Patrick.”

Everyone gave a half wave at him before Patrick dove right back into the passionate argument he was having with Gerard. Bob watched on to the two boys with an amused smile on his face while Mikey and Pete were whispering and giggling to each other.

Frank, on the other hand, was poking at his lunch, feeling invisible. It was the first time that day that he didn’t feel like everyone was staring a hole in the side of his head, and for that he was grateful.

It was only a matter of minutes before the first problem of many at this school arose. Frank could suddenly feel a looming presence near him, and as soon as he looked over to see the source, the presence immediately became a teenage boy leering right next to him.

“Who’s your new _friend_ , Way?” the boy sneered, not taking his eyes off of Frank, who was feeling smaller by the millisecond.

“Get the fuck out of here, McCracken,” Gerard immediately, disregarding any argument he was having.

“What’s the problem here?” the boy--McCracken, apparently--asked not-so-innocently. “I’m just curious about your new buddy.”

“He’s _ours_ Bert,” Bob cut in, suddenly menacing.

 _Theirs? What does he mean, “theirs”?_ Frank thought frantically. He had only lived in this town for a moment and he was already causing commotion without even doing anything and now, apparently, he belonged to a group of boys? Yeah, definitely not normal in any of Frank’s books. Before he could even think of excusing himself to the bathroom to avoid anything he inadvertently started, Bert suddenly got right up in the other boys’ faces and talked lowly.

“You know what? You’re all a couple of idiots. Don’t think for one second that this isn’t all dangerous for everyone in this damn school, alright? Everyone already knows what he is, there’s no point in hiding it. I’m trying to be the good guy here. I can hear what the other kids are saying about him, you know? If I were you, I would have taken some... _precautions_ before having him run around in this school. You better come up with something to cover up with when other kids talk about him to you, otherwise nothing is going to end up pretty in this damn mess.” Bert lifted himself up a little, looked around him, and said lastly, “I’m only trying to help you idiots.” With that, he sauntered off to his group of friends.

Frank slowly turned his head toward all of the other boys he had accompanied himself with. They were all looking at him with expressions of worry, terror, and apprehension.

And if that didn’t tell Frank that he needed to get out of this town and what-the-fuck-ever type of people it was filled with (and _fast_ ), he didn’t know what did.


End file.
